Close Combat
by Mr. Clark
Summary: North Korea has slipped under international scrutiny and has developed it's nuclear weapons program far quicker than anyone imagined. It's been 8 years since the end of the Siberian War and something far worse is about to be introduced to the world.
1. Close Combat Prologue

Close Combat

Prologue

_0453 Hours, 6 September, 2010_

_Pyongyang, North Korea_

North Korean President Kim Jong Il watched with hooded eyes as the conference room filled with delegates from other nations around the globe. The men quickly took their seats, mindful of Jong Il's gaze, which was cold and regarded each man almost indifferently. Once everyone had taken their seats there was a moment of uncomfortable silence until the North Korean President calmly took his folded hands from his lap and laid them down onto the table.

Kim Jong Il had been in control of North Korea for nearly two decades, ever since his father Kim Il Sung died in 1994. While many had hoped that with the death of Sung, North Korea would take a step back from its massive investment into its military and try to stabilize its economy, those hopes were quickly dashed as Jong Il picked up his father's reigns and continued North Korea down the path of military proliferation.

Despite Jong Il's continued spending on the military, the country had yet to commit itself to any kind of military offensive in large mass. It had been reported but could not be confirmed that when China and Japan invaded Russia to capture the untapped lands of Siberia, Kim Jong Il sent in several Infantry Divisions to assist in the effort. Despite Russian forces capturing several Korean soldiers before the conflict was over it was still believed that North Korea had nothing to do with it.

Many countries that originally believed North Korea to be a threat to global peace were now convinced that the country did not have any ill intentions since it had not supported that conflict.

President Jong Il did not let such an event go to waste. He let the world slowly forget about the continued military expansion that his country was sacrificing it's own citizens to support, and even let in nuclear weapon's inspectors from the UN in to look at the enriched uranium plants that had been erected. When the weapon's inspectors handed back reports that said they found no sign of nuclear development it seemed to the world that maybe North Korea wasn't the sleeping dragon so many believed it to be.

This perception was, of course, wrong.

"Gentlemen, as you may or may not know, despite American and UN bartering, our nuclear weapons development program has continued, to the point where we now have 7 ready to fire ICBM's," President Jong Il said, his eyes watching the faces of the delegates closely for their reactions. A fleeting smile crossed his lips as his remarks brought about shocked looks on each man's face.

"I certainly didn't drag you all in here just to brag, I had an ulterior motive. One that, if we can all agree on, should see each of our countries break free of the tyrannical hold the Americans and the other barbarians have placed over this world. China fell only 8 years ago when they failed to take on the Americans and the Russians with all of their resources," Kim explained. "Yes, China had in its possession several nuclear missiles that were ready to be fired during the final stages of that conflict. However, due to the ineptitude of Zhisheng, the weapons weren't used, and instead fell into the hands of the Americans."

Jong Il waited as that bit of information was absorbed by the assembled men.

"America has tended to think of itself as its own little UN. It has the power to invade other nations when they feel like they are not adhering to their belief of what a nation should do, and also holds the power to demand that no other country has the strangle hold over nuclear supremacy that it holds."

"I personally find that belief to be misguided, and it is far past the point when America should be put in its place. I intend to do just that."

The President's eyes grew cold as he cast his gaze across the table.

"Only, I need some assistance in carrying out my plans. Despite the world taking its eyes off my country ever since China was defeated, that hasn't stopped America from continuing to keep its nose inside my business. I can hardly create as effective an offensive as I would like if America were to catch wind of what I was planning, or the missiles that have been developed. To that end I have decided that I must split up my nuclear cache, so that we may strike at America from different sources and fully cripple it, bringing the oh-so-proud nation to its knees."

Jong Il got up from his chair and walked slowly around the table, pausing again when he reached the opposite end. For the first time he smiled openly at the men and folded his arms across his chest.

"What I have proposed will not be an easy task to accomplish, it will require months of work before we can be ready to strike, but I believe that the end result will more than make up for the hardships that we will face. First though, we must all be in agreement over what this task will entail. Do I have everyone's word that they shall assist in this plan?" Kim questioned, his gaze once more running over the men.

There was only a slight hesitation before the assembled men all nodded their heads.

President Jong Il's expression remained neutral as he nodded his head.

"Than it's settled. We will begin carrying this out immediately."

---------------

_1759 Hours, 6 September 2010_

_Langley, Washington_

Major General Phillip Sheridan Parker IV sat morosely at his desk as he starred at the clock on the wall.

'Goddamn, I could really use a sandwich right now,' he thought as he watched the second hand slowly make its endless trek around the circumference of the clock. 'Problem is, its an hour before I leave, and Toni will definitely know I ate, which will earn me another lecture on how I'm getting older and need to watch what I eat and when I eat.'

He sat still for another 30 seconds before finally giving up with a sigh and leaning back in his chair. What he really needed was some work to take his mind off food. You'd think the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency would have more things to occupy his mind other than getting a snack before supper.

The appointment to Director had come as quite a surprise to Parker, especially when it had been handed to him by the President of the United States. Nathan McCullen, a democrat, had won the 2008 election. Winnfield, the previous holder of the presidency had been reelected in the 2004 elections and his Vice President, Darren Evanishin hadn't done much to win the hearts of the voters, and it showed in the results of the 2008 election.

Parker liked McCullen personally, but he really found it hard to like him when he assigned Parker as Director for the CIA. Phil had been sent straight back to the Pentagon once he had handled the last bit of the war with China. He had found it very disheartening, as he expected to stay in command over the occupational force that was now inside China. In his honest opinion he thought he commanded well in Siberia, he had after all stopped a Chinese advance twice that outnumbered the forces under his control by more than 3 to 1.

There had been a fair bit of media attention on him when he came back to the States, every news outlet wanted to interview the officer that, in the words of the press following the defeat and surrender of the Chinese invasion force, orchestrated the downfall of an evil regime and carried it out with a command not seen since the days of World War II. Parker was of course, very uneasy about being compared to Generals like Eisenhower, or MacArthur, and quickly did whatever he could to dispel any belief the press had that he was in any way as great a leader as those men had been.

He praised the soldiers he served with immensely, especially the Japanese soldiers, two in particular. The names Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki appeared in newspapers and on televisions all across the world. A development that the two martial artists had promised would come out of Parker's ass the next time he stepped foot in Japan.

After spending a few years at the Pentagon doing, in Parker's words, diddly shit, he had been given a promotion to Major General, and assigned to Fort Meade as commanding General. Parker enjoyed the assignment, it put him back in command of soldiers, and for a while he was happy with the Army once more.

Then McCullen won the Presidential election, and he decided the Director of the CIA at that time was insufficient for what the job entailed, and asked for his resignation. With that done, McCullen set about looking for a new Director. The obvious choice was to give the job to the Deputy Director, but he had already seen the man and had written him off as just another CIA lackey.

It was during a dinner party at the White House when President McCullen was speaking with the Vice Chief of Staff for the US Military that McCullen thought of Parker. Talk had diverted to the first democratic election in mainland China. Parker had come up since he was the commanding officer that had first set up the structure in China once the war was over. McCullen had asked what Parker was up to at the time, and the Vice Chief had heard about Parker taking over command of Fort Meade and the President asked if it would be possible for him to meet with Parker the next day.

The Vice Chief had been kind enough to inform Parker that the President was going to offer him the position of Director of the CIA, so Parker had enough time to prepare an effective defense as to why he shouldn't be given the job. He was, in every sense of the word, inexperienced when it came to intelligence work. The fact that his father had worked in the CIA before his retirement was not something that should indicate he was capable of such a title.

He had been effectively knocked off his high horse when he met the President.

McCullen had welcomed Parker in, offered him coffee, and then told him, matter-of-factly, that he was now the Director of the CIA. There had been no room for argument, and the next day, Parker was packing his bags and moving back to Washington.

After a year at the job, Parker was still of the opinion that he was wholly inexperienced to run the CIA, but not many other people were. Parker had sent waves through the CIA. Despite his opinion that he was inexperienced, he had resolved himself to the fact that, inexperienced or not, he was a soldier, and he was given a job to do, so he had best carry it out to the fullest of his potential.

It became evident to those in the Washington community that Parker really had been the wisest choice. He was not only a highly intelligent individual who had proven himself in the past to be able to handle impossible tasks, but he also had a startlingly large number of connections with the international community that were all willing to provide him with intelligence that they weren't going to share with some CIA bureaucrat.

Overall, President McCullen was more than pleased with his decision.

Parker sighed again as he finally got to his feet. Since he was going to wind up grabbing a bite to eat anyways, he might as well do it at home where he wouldn't have to wait for Toni to lecture him. He informed his secretary to tell anyone that called that he'd gone home early, and then made his way out of the building, to the staff car that was waiting to drive him home.

He felt slightly uneasy about leaving early, but it had been a relatively quiet start to the week, and if something were going to happen, it wouldn't happen on a Monday.

---------------

Author's Notes: Yes, I'm back. I couldn't stay away from this series, and I felt that taking one more stab at it couldn't really hurt, but I've been planning this new story out for a while, and I realized that it's going to be big. Big as in, take 'Balance of Power', 'Until the End' and add the two together and you have what I expect 'Close Combat' to be.

Well, nothing else other than to say, I hope that everyone that read the previous 2 stories finds this new addition to be as good as them.

Of course, for those that have clicked on this story unknowingly, and are scratching their heads wondering what the hell this is, than I must inform you that there are two previous stories before this one takes place that you're going to have to read before you understand exactly what this one is about.

Next chapter, we'll get to see what Ranma and Ryoga have been up to for the past 8 years, and yes, more will be explained about the plot. For those wondering who the delegates were that met with Kim Jong Il, well, that's got to remain a secret for a little bit longer. Please review everyone and let me know what you think. Is it a good idea to bring everybody back for a third installment, or have I gone insane to think that I can churn out another novel-length story, bigger than the other two combined?


	2. Close Combat Chapter 1

Close Combat

Chapter 1

Old Friends

_1145 Hours, 10 September, 2010_

_Tokyo, Japan_

Despite what is a popular opinion in today's world, Japan does frequently participate in espionage throughout the global community. The Public Security Investigation Agency, or PSIA, functions much in the same manner as the CIA or FBI. Of course, considering that their entire employee roster consists of those born from Asian descent, it limit's the areas where operatives can effectively gather information from other nations.

The PSIA operates almost entirely in the Asian side of the world, at least as actual espionage is concerned. Actual espionage is however, a very small portion of what the PSIA consists of. Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and as such, they possess the ability to spy on other nations without having to go through the costly and dangerous act of infiltrating agents. The problem with being able to spy easily on other nations is the information that is collected consists of mostly garbage messages. The process of sorting through the information has been made easier over time, but it is still a lengthy ordeal and because of this, much information goes undetected.

Ranma Saotome was very much aware of that fact as he sorted through the papers on his desk. For the tenth time that day, he wondered why he had accepted the small office instead of the much larger one that Kimura had offered him. He admitted to himself that he did not want to seem greedy, but in retrospect, it had been a rather idiotic decision on his part.

Ranma, a tall muscular man with unruly black hair tied in the back with a simple pigtail had just recently celebrated his 30th birthday. Growing older hadn't done much to change Ranma's appearance from when he was a teenager, aside from his features became more refined and his shoulders grew broader. He was in his own honest opinion, devilishly handsome. An opinion he was careful not to express around his wife, for she was quick to bring rather blunt objects down upon his head whenever he was too arrogant.

Giving up on his futile attempt to organize the stacks of paper that littered his office, Ranma decided to go for a walk outside. The Diet building was too crowded for Ranma's taste, but the grounds outside were beautiful, and he often found himself walking, or practicing in them. Despite the desk job that he now possessed, Ranma had continued his martial arts training, taking every opportunity to hone his skills. Ranma practicing kata's was a rather common site outside the Diet building, and he had even acquired a few new students, actual Diet cabinet members, that joined him in his daily exercise routine.

As he walked at a leisurely pace, Ranma found himself musing over how different his life had been than he had expected it would be when he was younger. When he was 16, the only thing he believed he would do in his life would be to inherit the Tendo Dojo and spend his days teaching martial arts. A year later, that outlook had drastically altered when he and Ryoga met a man named Seiji Inafune.

Inafune, an unwilling participant in the Japanese Yakuza, had enlisted the help of Ranma and Ryoga to bring down the organization. They had done just that, but their actions had caused far too much attention to be brought upon them and they had run off to China to lay low while the heat died down. They had stirred up as much trouble in China as they had in Japan, and through that ordeal Ranma, Ryoga, Akane, and Akari had met Phil Parker. Seiji Inafune had died while in China, but his son Ishii took over his father's plight along with Isamu Kimura, a former Yakuza member that had assisted them in China.

Returning to Japan brought some semblance of normality back into Ranma's life, as he settled back into normal life though now with a few new friends thrown into the mix. It wasn't until a few months later when the People's Republic of China decided to invade Taiwan that things got out of hand once again. China was refusing to release Seiji Inafune's body, and Ishii enlisted the help of Ranma and Ryoga. The problem of getting into China was solved when Parker, who had helped foil an assassination attempt against the President of Taiwan, was going in with an American invasion force that was being sent into China to deal with the Politburo. Ranma, Ishii, and Ryoga had come along with Parker, who was a tanker officer in the Army. While under the guise of American soldiers, Ranma and Ryoga had been captured by the Chinese, and they, along with other American POW's had been taken behind enemy lines. Parker led his men in an attempt to rescue the prisoners, and when the Chinese realized they couldn't hold the line, they retreated, leaving the POW's, but not before they shot half of them.

Ranma had believed that Ryoga had been killed by the Chinese, but he had only been wounded, and the fact that he was of Japanese descent in an American uniform made him a desirable prisoner, and he had been taken back to Beijing, where he was eventually sent to a POW camp.

Soon China's superior numbers began to send the American assault in retreat, and the President of the United States panicked, ordering the assassination of the Politburo. The attack succeeded, but one member survived. Mai Zhisheng acceded to the title of Premier. The Americans pulled out of China, and for a while, it seemed that a stalemate had been made.

It wasn't until 4 years later, when UN sanctions against China began to take their toll, and China began to look north at Siberia with hungry eyes, that Ranma's life was again thrown for a loop. The Central Intelligence Agency had intercepted a message that contained information that seemed to point out that American soldiers had been captured during the war with China 4 years prior, were still alive and being help in a POW camp. Brigadier General Parker had received the report courtesy of his father, who worked for the CIA, and had sent the news off to Japan. Ryoga might not have been killed.

Before Ranma, Akane, and Akari, who had given birth to Ryoga's son during his absence were able to swallow that bit of information, the Japanese Prime Minister Shizuko, had made a military pact with China, agreeing to invade Siberia. Ranma had been conscripted and found himself in Siberia, working with the country that was holding his best friend prisoner. After several months of sparse fighting, the Russian and American forces in Siberia, who were under the command of a Russian General and General Parker, held the line outside of the city of Alden.

The battle was close, but Russian and American forces prevailed, and the Chinese and Japanese forces were pushed back, 30 000 Japanese soldiers taken prisoner in the process. Chinese Premier Zhisheng had been livid, ordered the immediate detainment of all Japanese soldiers, and then declared war on Japan. Ranma had not been captured by the Americans during the battle, but had been injured by Parker. Consequentially he was taken off the line and was arrested by the Chinese He and the other Japanese soldiers remaining had been sent back into China to a POW camp. Ranma, coincidentally wound up in the same cell as Ryoga, who had endured 4 years of harsh treatment.

Parker, who had found out about the Chinese taking the remaining Japanese forces prisoner, had staged an assault on the POW compound with the help of a Russian Lieutenant, Gregory Gogol. Ranma and Ryoga were rescued, along with the other prisoners, and were shipped off to a hospital ship. Ranma and Ryoga were given a short reprieve from the fighting while they recovered, but it did not last long.

The Chinese had reinforced its invasion force, and were pushing into Siberia once more. The Russian and American forces couldn't hold the line on their own, so Parker, who had taken over control of the entire force when the Russian commander was killed during the battle outside of Alden, requested permission to use the Japanese POW's. China had declared war on Japan, so they would be fighting against a common enemy. Parker received his permission, and all Japanese soldiers were to be sent back to Siberia. This caused Ranma and Ryoga to be sent back into the war as well. They found themselves on the front line of the final battle of the war. Ranma and Ryoga performed beyond what anyone had expected, even Parker who had seen them in action before, and they had essentially single-handedly won the battle.

Back in Japan, Akane, Akari, Ishii, and Kimura had not been idle while the war was going on. They staged a coup and overthrew the government. Kimura had revealed to the public that the Prime Minister had been developing nuclear weapons, and had been responsible for the assassination of the Emperor before the war. Kimura then became the front man for the new government, though not by his own choice, and was named temporary Prime Minister while the old government was slowly expunged from the system.

Ranma and Ryoga returned to Japan, to the waiting arms of Akane, Akari and their children. Parker led the charge into China, handled the unconditional surrender of the Chinese forces, and then placed Mai Zhisheng under arrest.

Ryoga had been placed in a hospital for a little while, same with Ranma. Ryoga had stayed longer than Ranma, since he was not yet fully recovered from his 4 years of prolonged malnutrition. He had also been placed under psychiatric evaluation. It had been rough for little while, but Ryoga got through the problems he faced.

Once Ryoga was fully recovered, they were approached by Isamu Kimura, who was still acting as temporary Prime Minister for the country. He asked them if they wouldn't be interested in coming to work with him. Kimura was still trying to get rid of all the Diet members that had supported Shizuko, and he was facing an uphill battle and considered anybody that he could actually have by his side that he knew he could trust to be a blessing. However, they had only a few months prior just returned from what was probably the most stressful times in their lives, Ranma and Ryoga went to work for Kimura.

Both men had a few duties around the Diet building. The PSIA sent over daily briefs on everything that they received, often in the forms of large folders containing hundreds of documents. Ranma often found himself poring over those documents from 5am to 8am. He chose which ones Kimura needed to see, and which ones the few other people around the Diet building that could still be trusted could see. Ryoga was often spared this mundane task, but only because he was Kimura's personal assistant/bodyguard. Kimura could get away with having Ranma cleared for all the intelligence gathered by the PSIA, but bringing another civilian off the street would have caused more attention than he wanted to be brought to the situation. So Ryoga was named Kimura's bodyguard, but he spent very little time doing so aside from driving with the Prime Minister from his home to the Diet building every morning.

Once the daily intelligence was sorted and taken care of, Ranma would join Ryoga in Kimura's office and more often than not be given jobs that Kimura needed to be taken care of. Ryoga would leave Kimura's side at that point, and go around the city putting out the fires that Kimura believed needed to be put out.

More often than not Kimura would need them to do something each day, but on rare occasions he would give them free reign for the day. This would often have Ranma and Ryoga stopping by the offices of Akari Hibiki, and Akane Saotome. Both women were acting presidents of Inafune, Powell, Saotome, and Hibiki. It was an investment banking firm that Seiji Inafune had owned 51 of the stock and which he had left to both his son Ishii, and Ranma and Ryoga. Ranma took over the company along with Akari, who had taken over for Ryoga, considering he was unable to run the company for obvious reasons. When Ranma was drafted into the Japanese Army, Akane had taken over the reigns that he had once held and both she and Akari ran the company.

Akane quickly showed everyone that she could handle the role, and even made a few improvements in Ranma's absence. It had therefore not been much of a problem when Ranma returned from the war and didn't bother going back to work for the company.

To say that everyone was happy now would be the epitome of the word understatement. For the first time in a long time there hadn't been unseen problems, and no insane world leaders had decided to attack a nearby country. Of course, with Ranma's position in the new government, he'd at least get as close a heads-up as possible if that were to occur.

Smirking to himself at that thought, Ranma almost failed to detect the aura fast approaching him. Reacting quickly, Ranma back flipped up and over the threat, sending a twisting scissor kick towards their midsection. His attack was evaded, and Ranma's foot touched the grass just as the attacker threw a snap kick at his throat. Ranma simply leaned back, letting the leg stop an inch from his neck. Continuing his movement, Ranma leaned back until he was falling towards the ground, and brought his leg out to knock the attacker's remaining leg out from under him. The person anticipated this, and jumped just as Ranma's foot was about to impact his leg. Ranma used his arms to push himself up quickly, using he motion his leg sweep had produced to jump backwards a few meters from where the attacker had landed.

"What did I do to tick you off this time Ryoga?" Ranma asked evenly as he eyed the man carefully.

Ryoga smirked and dropped his offensive stance.

"Just trying to keep you on you're toes Ranma," he replied as he walked over and clapped Ranma on the shoulder. "You finish going through the morning intelligence?"

"Yeah, took me 3 hours," Ranma complained. "Tomorrow your gonna skip driving with Kimura so you can help me go through tomorrow's debrief."

Ryoga laughed in reply and nodded his head.

"Sure thing, with someone that can actually read going through them, it should only take 10 minutes."

That comment elicited a growl from Ranma and it was several more minutes before they headed back inside. They were just passing through the metal detectors when a man they both recognized as Kimura's secretary approached them.

"The Prime Minister wishes to see the two of you at the moment," he announced in an almost regal tone.

Ranma and Ryoga traded a look. Both were quite aware there were several members of the Diet and their lackeys that regarded them as whores in a church. To the Diet members, Ranma and Ryoga were severely lacking when it came to giving the Prime Minister the respect that the title warranted. Despite the fact that it was well known around the building that both men were friends with the Prime Minister. If that wasn't bad enough, Ranma and Ryoga were low-ranking soldiers, yet they were privy to any information that they deemed was worth their attention.

Once the clean up after the war had been completed, Kimura had decided to keep Ranma in the military and had arranged a commission for Ryoga, believing correctly that it would be easier for them to get around if they were soldiers rather than civilians. Ranma had been promoted to Captain, now Major, and to keep things even between the two of them, Ryoga had been promoted to Major shortly after Ranma's promotion came through.

What made both of them privy to whatever information they wanted to see, was the small leather-bound booklet that they carried on them at all times. Inside was a single sheet of paper. What was written on the paper often made the person's eyes widen in surprise when they read it.

* * *

By Direction of the Prime Minister

_This document authorizes the following individuals the authority to see all documents/information that they wish to see:_

_Maj. Ranma Saotome_

_Maj. Ryoga Hibiki_

_These individuals are acting under orders of the undersigned._

_Isamu Kimura, Prime Minister_

* * *

"Lead the way," Ranma offered. Kimura's secretary nodded stiffly and turned around to take them to the Prime Minister's office. Once they arrived he motioned for Ranma and Ryoga to wait, pushed an intercom on his desk, and announced that they had arrived.

"Send them in please," Kimura's voice ordered and they were sent in.

"Hey Kimura, I hear you carry a little authority around here so I was wondering if you might use some of it to take the stick that's shoved up everyone's ass and take it out a few inches," Ranma said once the door was closed behind them.

Prime Minister Isamu Kimura shook his head slightly but had to smile at that. He was a tall man, already into his early 50's with hair that was beginning to show the first signs of turning gray.

"The Royal Guard not treating you guys right?" Kimura inquired with a smile. He was well aware just how much duress the presence of Ranma and Ryoga caused to the somewhat security conscious people around the Diet building.

"That'd be putting it lightly," Ryoga interjected. "Your secretary acted like he was shepherding a couple of lepers."

"You have to understand, a lot of the people remaining from what the media has dubbed my 'purges', have a severe case of self importance. They float around the throne, and consider themselves to be the old nobles of the Shogun Empire. You two are a heavy dose of reality to them, and just how unimportant they are most of the time," Kimura explained.

"Akane likes to say that there's only 3 people in this whole building that actually do anything other than run around in circles," Ranma said.

"Oh? I know I'm one of them, but who would the other two be?" Kimura asked, an innocent expression plastered to his face.

Ranma and Ryoga both gave Kimura a rude gesture and then laughed.

"All complaining aside," Kimura began, "was there anything noteworthy in this morning's intelligence Ranma?"

Ranma shook his head.

"No, Parker fed us some info on the situation in Iran, seems that things are going to turn ugly over there pretty fast. Other than that, North Korea is still being unnaturally quiet. Estimates show that since the American sponsored UN aid sanction, the NK's should just about be running out of food, and usually when that happens they promise to stop building up their army and nuclear enrichment plants. Then we send food and money in, which just goes straight to the military and not to the people," Ranma said. "However, this time they've been quiet, and satellite imagery that Parker sent over has shown nothing out of the ordinary."

Kimura grunted. "Any new intel on the supposed meeting Jong Il held a couple days ago?"

"Nope, it'll be awhile before Parker can confirm it, if he ever does, and even if he does it doesn't begin to explain just what might have been said in there."

Kimura took that in at face value and digested the news for a moment before turning to Ryoga.

"You were in South Korea watching over Ishii while he was at some inane banquet in Seoul last week, did you get a feel of the people there?"

Ryoga took a moment to gather his thoughts before starting.

"The South Korean citizens are in pretty much the same state of mind that they've been in for the past 50 years. They think the first Korean War never happened, and consider the American occupation, however small it may be, to be a plague upon their soil that should be removed at the earliest opportunity. The thought that North Korea could possibly be planning to move south past the 38th parallel doesn't seem to cross many of their minds. Most people would sooner think that United States would try and take them over."

Kimura sighed and Ranma swore softly. Ryoga smirked at Ranma's response before continuing.

"During the banquet I got the chance to meet up with Gregory Gogol while the more important guests mingled. He told me that some Russian nuclear sites have been abandoned in the past few months or so, and the scientists haven't been heard from since. The Russians aren't making that bit of information privy, even to Parker, but Gogol saw the chance to get the news out and took it. I don't want it to get back to the Russians that Gogol told me so if we tell Parker about this I'd feel a lot better if it was a hand courier that delivered the message."

"That would probably be best," Kimura agreed. "Parker and you two may have kept them from having Siberia taken away but the politicians in Moscow are still loath to admit that everything isn't as hunky dory as they say it is over there."

"So what do you want us to do?" Ranma asked, sensing that Kimura was on the verge of issuing some orders.

"Parker needs to hear about the Russian scientists bugging out, and I can't think of any two people I trust more to deliver the message than you two," Kimura said with a smile. "Pack you're bags, you two or on your way to Washington."

-------------------

Author's Notes: Well, there we go, Ranma and Ryoga are back. But oh my, their practically old men. Don't worry, their not going to be suffering from a mid-life crisis in this story.

Sorry about the long recap of the last two stories in here. People complained about their short memories, and I figured it'd be a bit nicer to have them have to read a couple pages to get back in the game instead of 300 pages.

Next chapter is underway, keep an eye out, and please give me your thoughts on this chapter.


	3. Close Combat Chapter 2

A/N: sorry, had to put this little blurb up here. The scene with the tape recorder was amazingly frustrating to write the way I had originally intended to, so I had to change it. Despite the fact that the voices are Korean, I'm going to write it out as if they were speaking Japanese, and we can all make the assumption that Ishii is translating it as it plays.

Close Combat

Chapter 2

A New Name for Chaos

_1923 Hours, September 11, 2010_

_Washington DC, Maryland_

"You know, on second thought I think it would have been smarter for me to drive," Ranma commented as they navigated the freeway.

"Shut up," Ryoga replied. "If they didn't have to make everything so damn confusing here than I'd have no trouble at all."

"Oh of course," Ranma agreed, his voice lacking any type of conviction. "I mean, you possessing the world's worst sense of direction wouldn't have affected you're driving skills whatsoever."

"I told you to shut up," snarled Ryoga. "I swear it Ranma, one more comment out of you and I'm crashing this car."

Ranma wasn't fazed by Ryoga's threat.

"But Ryoga, this is a rental and you know the rental agency will have a fit when it gets back to them that you drove it off the freeway," Ranma said straight faced. He noticed Ryoga's hands tightening on the wheel and decided it was time to change the subject, but not completely. "Y'know, I've been wondering, exactly how do you manage to drive Kimura to work every morning when normally, if you're given a long stretch of road to walk down, you somehow wind up back where you started in less than a minute?"

Ryoga's face flushed red, but now it was from embarrassment rather than anger.

"Kimura has his car outfitted with one of those navigator devices. You put in the destination and you're starting point and it'll tell you exactly how to get there as you drive."

Ranma nodded at that, and seemed to be contemplating something for a moment before opening his mouth.

"But still, even then I'd expect you to get lost at least a couple of times along the way."

The thin thread that reigned in Ryoga's temper snapped quite soundly and with fluid grace, he brought his foot down onto the accelerator and lined the car up with the center divider that was only a short distance ahead.

A quick shout escaped Ranma's mouth when he noticed that Ryoga didn't seem to be very concerned with the approaching concrete divider and quickly threw his hands across the car, grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it hard to the left.

"Are you insane!?" he shouted as the car spun briefly before brushing against the edge of the road and righting itself. He sent a stiff jab to Ryoga's leg that was currently clamped down on the accelerator.

Ryoga looked over at Ranma with an air of calm that seemed drastically out of place with what had just occurred.

"Does this mean your going to stop questioning my driving?" he asked. A somewhat nasty smile crossed his face as he regarded Ranma and not the road in front of him. "Cause you know, I could always accidentally lose control."

He hadn't actually intended to smash the car into the divider, but frightening Ranma after his somewhat embarrassing line of questions had made the action more than worthwhile. The fact that Ranma had reminded him of the first few times when he had driven Kimura to work and had somehow wound up in Kyoto had not helped his rapidly deteriorating mood.

Ranma looked at Ryoga for a moment before shaking his head.

"Remind me the next time we come here to just get Phil to come pick us up."

Ryoga nodded. "Will do."

They drove in silence for the next 20 minutes, attempting to navigate their way to Parker's home address. Ryoga turned down a random street and somehow stumbled upon a long row of houses on the street that Parker's house apparently existed. However, even this new discovery didn't exactly help their search.

"This would be a heck of a lot easier if all of these houses didn't look so goddamn similar," Ranma stated.

"Well," Ryoga began, "just look for the nicest house along here. Parker's the Director of the CIA; he's bound to have a nicer place than the other government pukes that live around here."

Ranma couldn't argue with that logic, but this was Ranma and Ryoga and some smart comment had to be made.

"Its not like they put out a big sign on their lawn that says 'Director of CIA Residence', and a little side note underneath reading 'Unauthorized personnel are prohibited to read above message'."

Ryoga's left eye twitched as he mentally counted to ten.

"Well asshole, I'd prefer to hear some of you're bright ideas on how we find his place then."

Ranma's mouth twisted into a smile. He reached into the pocket of his pants and extracted his cellphone. Ryoga noticed this and snorted.

"What are you gonna do, call Parker and ask for directions?" he asked. "Because if you are I think you're overlooking the fact that we don't have his home number."

"If you'd be quiet for just a second you negative individual, I'd be able to finish what I'm doing," Ranma said. He pushed a few numbers and waited for something to load. "I have no intention of trying to call Parker; the Director of the CIA doesn't exactly have a phone number that is given out to anybody that asks for it. These new cell phones Ishii got us have a GPS program built in."

Ryoga looked at Ranma in surprise. "They do?" Ranma nodded. "If you knew this all along then why the hell did you let me drive around Washington for the past 3 hours?"

"Because I didn't remember up until about a minute ago."

Neither of them talked while Ranma inputted Parker's address. Both men looked at each other in uneasy silence as they waited for the phone to connect.

"Alright, according to this were about..." Ranma trailed off as he peered at the phone. He raised an eyebrow at what it read. "Okay, were about 4 feet from Parker's place."

Ryoga looked out the side window, then down at the small slip of paper with Parker's address written on it.

"Well, how do you like that, I found it," Ryoga said as he slowed the car and pulled into the driveway.

"Whadd'ya mean you found it?" Ranma intoned as he slipped the phone back into his pocket and clambered out of the car. "With your driving habits we'd have wound up in Brazil before the night was over."

Ryoga shot Ranma a glare as they made their way up to the front door.

"Don't make me have to pound you're amazingly thick head into the ground in front of Phil, Ranma. I know how much that would embarrass you."

"The only thing I'm embarrassed about is that I was stupid enough to think you couldn't drive 30 miles from the rental agency to Parker's house without taking 3 hour long detours," Ranma said.

Ryoga paused in front of the door and turned to face Ranma. They stared at each other for a moment before breaking into grins.

"Alright, I call a truce," Ryoga offered. "For the rest of the evening I won't comment on you're lack of intelligence so long as you don't talk about my sense of direction."

"Agreed."

They briefly shook hands and then knocked on the door.

-------------------------

_0823 Hours, 12 September 2010_

_Tokyo, Japan_

Kimura set his the morning paper down on his desk as he walked briskly into his office. He headed straight for the coffee machine located on a separate desk along the wall, turning the machine on. That done, he went to his desk, extracted his laptop, and set it on the desk, opening it up and starting it up. He reached behind him and opened up the blinds that covered his window that allowed him a look at the beautiful grounds outside the Diet building.

Without Ranma and Ryoga there to take part in his morning routine, there didn't seem to be as much to do, and it was only 20 minutes before Kimura's mind began to drift away from the many different documents sitting on his desk. He glanced at the clock located in the corner of his laptop.

'Ranma and Ryoga should be at Parker's place already,' he noted to himself as he sipped at the fresh cup of coffee.

The whole business about the Russian nuke scientists disappearing had him worried. Coupled with North Korea being unnaturally quiet, the situation had migraine written all over it.

Shaking his head sadly, Kimura got back to work. Without Ranma to sort through the morning's intelligence, a lot of meaningless drivel found its way onto his desk. After the seventh item concerning the political implications of having the cattle industry in Canada go sour, Kimura was just about convinced, that Ranma deserved a medal for his work. Most of this stuff should have been carted off to the separate government branches.

'No wonder Ryoga always likes to drive me every morning. It keeps him from having to go through all this each day.'

It was several more hours before Kimura noticed that he was hungry. He buzzed his secretary, prepared to request the man bring him a sandwich.

"You're lunch appointment is already here Mr. Prime Minister," his secretary replied.

'Lunch appointment?' Kimura thought to himself. He hadn't recalled having a meeting scheduled for now.

Before he could question his secretary anymore the doors to his office opened and two women walked in. Kimura stared at them for a moment before smiling.

"Well now, I'd ask what you two are doing here, but I think I already know the answer."

Akane Saotome smiled briefly at Kimura before replying.

"Since you saw fit to send our husbands off to Washington and our kids are at school, we figured it'd be best if we came down here and kept you company."

"Trust me when I say that I wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been absolutely necessary," Kimura replied. Akane and Akari both gave him dubious looks. "Moving on, since your both here, how about you rescue me from all this paperwork and come have lunch with me?"

"Alright, but your buying," Akari informed him. Kimura laughed and walked out from behind his desk and towards the door, stopping to grab his coat.

"Fine, but I'll have you know that it's quite a travesty that the two chairwomen on the board of one of the largest investment banking companies in the world should have to mooch a meal off of the Prime Minister."

Just as he got the delighted laughter from both Akane and Akari, the door to his office swung open sharply. Ishii Inafune stood in the doorway.

"Something the matter Ishii?" Kimura asked, slightly nonplussed by his entrance.

"I have something to show you," he glanced at Akane and Akari and added, "in private."

Akane and Akari both looked put off by that, and Akane voiced her problem.

"Really Ishii, I'd think that you'd be able to trust us enough that we wouldn't go to the press immediately."

Ishii looked pained for a moment before replying.

"Trust me you two, this isn't something that you'll want to hear."

Akari looked like she was going to put her two cents in but Kimura stepped in before she could get further than opening her mouth.

"They can stay Ishii."

"Fine," Ishii said angrily. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Kimura replaced his jacket and went back to his desk, motioning for the others to grab a chair and sit down. Once everyone was sitting down Ishii reached into his pants pocket and extracted a small recorder. Kimura looked at him in confusion.

"What's that for?"

Ishii set the recorder down on Kimura's desk and sat back in his chair with an exaggerated sigh.

"The PSIA received the tape in there about 30 minutes ago. They got it from the Seger channel. There not sure if this is something our agent recorded himself, or if he picked it up from one of his operatives."

"Seger?" Akari asked, the word unknown to her. Akane shared her look of confusion.

"You don't have the need-to-know," Ishii said simply.

"Seger is the codename for an agent that the Americans and the PSIA managed to acquire inside North Korea. He's in the military, but that's just a cover that the Koreans gave him. Were not quite sure what he does, but we do know that he's been working with the nukes and the development of them for the past little while," Kimura explained. Ishii shot him a glare.

"I hardly think we should be throwing that information around, no offense guys," he added to Akane and Akari. "The more people in on this the more likely something gets out, and that means this guy gets a bullet in the back of the head and we lose any future information."

"What's on the tape," Kimura urged.

"Nobody here speaks Korean right?" Ishii asked after a moment. He received nods from the others. "Alright, then I'll translate as it plays."

He reached forward and hit play on the recorder. As he sat back he glanced over at Akane and Akari.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he repeated.

_The first noises heard were the scraping of chairs and some muffled voices. After a few moments the sound of someone shouting angrily came clearly through the recorder._

_"Sit him down in the chair and bind his arms and legs. Get me that knife."_

_Someone saying something in Russian could be heard. There followed a few unrecognizable sounds, which was the sound of someone having their arms bound behind their back._

_"Now that you're a little more comfortable Andre, perhaps you'd like to offer you're assistance in helping us get the missiles ready for transportation?" the original person asked._

_"Go to hell," was the somewhat shaky reply. The voice had a noticeable Russian accent._

_"You're not being very helpful Andre, and that is unfortunate for you."_

_The distinct sound of flesh hitting flesh could be heard, along with a painful grunt._

_"Every time you aren't helpful something bad will happen to you," the same voice explained. "Now, are you going to help us move those missiles?"_

_"Fuck you!" the man with the Russian accent shouted._

_"I am very sorry to hear that Andre."_

_There was a moment of complete silence before the sound of metal piercing flesh could be heard. A loud haggard scream came forth. The scream continued for a minute, drowning out any other sounds._

_"You will tell us how to move those missiles!" the Korean ordered._

_"N-no," the Russian replied weakly. There was no warning this time, the knife pierced flesh once again, and the screams resurfaced. It continued for a long moment before a different voice interrupted._

_"You got carried away," the voice was calm, a stark contradiction to what had just happened. "I think he's still alive."_

_"No problem," the original voice said. The sound of a bullet being chambered was heard, followed shortly by the sharp report of a gun firing._

_"Go bring in the next one," the first man ordered. "Make sure you drag this one out in front of them before they come in."_

_There followed a few unidentifiable noises and finally the sound of something being dragged across the ground._

Ishii reached forward and hit stop on the recorder.

"That's where it stops. A couple analysts over at the PSIA figure that the original recorder was hidden on someone that was standing about two or three feet from the Russian that was murdered. Whether or not they assisted with whatever happened after the tape stops, is unknown."

Kimura nodded his head in agreement, trying to keep his face impassive. Despite his efforts his face had turned a sickeningly pale.

"Is there anyone on the tape that analysts can identify?" he asked Ishii, mentally noting that he might never eat in this lifetime. He glanced over at where Akane and Akari were sitting, and saw that the two women were wearing two identical sickened expressions. It was only a moment before Akari got to her feet and rushed out of the room, a hand pressed to her mouth, and with the obvious intention to go throw up. Akane stayed for a few more moments before getting up and leaving the office to go check on Akari, despite her desire to follow Akari's example.

Ishii waited until the women had left before answering.

"I left the analyst team a copy before heading over here, but I doubt they'll find anyone we know on that tape. Though, I would definitely put money on the bet that the poor bastard that gets cut up on there is one of the Russian scientists that went missing not too long ago."

"Yeah," Kimura said, almost to himself. "Parker's going to need to hear this."

Ishii nodded his agreement. "I'll get another copy made and have it sent over to Langley."

"Get on that right away," Kimura ordered as he got to his feet. "I'm gonna go check on Akane and Akari."

--------------------------

_2256 Hours, 11 September, 2004_

_Washington DC, Maryland_

"Gogol was right in passing that bit of information along to you Ryoga. The Russians might like to think that nuclear scientists bugging out is a domestic concern, but those guys are running around with way too much essential information," Parker confessed. He refilled Ranma and Ryoga's drinks before doing so to his own. "Kimura was also right in thinking that sending you two over to pass on that bit of news was better than just sending a memo. We may be on the same sides again, but that doesn't mean the Russians haven't stopped trying to read our mail, and vise versa."

Ryoga sipped lightly at the glass of scotch. He wasn't much of a drinker, but Parker's scotch was quite good.

"Gregory told me there's plenty of places the scientists could have gone, but he's mainly worried about some of them winding up in North Korea, or Iran. I didn't really think that scientists leaving their posts would be such a big deal, its not like they stole a couple ICBM's when they left," Ryoga confessed.

Parker shook his head slightly. "Getting the materials for a nuke isn't as hard as everyone would like it to be. The main problem with doing this is other countries, mainly the US find out about it and bring it out to the world's attention. If a country can get it started and finish it off secretly though, then their pretty much scot-free. The first step towards making sure you don't get caught is by having people that know what their doing and are capable of working without attracting notice."

Ranma caught on quickly.

"So if a country like, say, North Korea were to suddenly find itself holding a bunch of scientists that can assist them in finishing up the production of their nuke program, than it'd be pretty much impossible for us to find out about it."

"Exactly," Parker said. "Right now there's 17 nations that have the necessary equipment to process nuclear arms, and at the last count, there's 11 countries that have in their possession actual nuclear equipped warheads. With a bunch of Russian nuke scientists running around undetected, those numbers could increase pretty goddamn quickly and no one would be the wiser till a nuke came crashing down on our heads."

Ranma and Ryoga nodded their heads gravely at that assessment. Both took rather deep pulls on their drinks. Parker was about to continue his lecture when the phone in the den went off. Toni had long ago gone to bed, so he excused himself and went to go answer it.

It was only a few moments before Parker came back into the room, a troubled look plastered on his face.

"What's wrong?" Ranma asked.

"That was Ishii. The North Koreans have the Russian scientists," Parker said.

"Shit," Ryoga said softly.

------------------------------

A/N: well, the scene with the torture isn't exactly how I had envisioned it, but it's still effective I'd say. As squeamish as I was while writing it just goes to prove that. Oh yes, and this story is definitely going to be bumped up to an 'R' rating by next chapter. So sometime next week make sure you go looking in that section for this story when I update.


	4. Close Combat Chapter 3

A/N: Terribly sorry about the long wait everyone. We moved from DC all the way down to Florida, and I had several other things that needed taking care of before I could get back to the story. Now that I'm unpacked and everything is in working order I should be able to get back on a normal working regimen. I bumped this story up to an 'R' rating as well, just a precaution though. No kinky stuff….yet.

Close Combat

Chapter 3

Far From Home

_0459 Hours, 13 September 2010_

_Pyongyang, North Korea_

Genji Inihara was a troubled man. He was an intelligence officer working for both the United States and Japan, but much more importantly he was an 'illegal' operative. Being an 'illegal' meant that he did not have diplomatic immunity applied to him, which meant that if, he was discovered than he would be dead. It was as simple as that. Cliché though it might sound, neither the United States nor Japan would come to his rescue were he to be caught. Espionage is a punishable offence, and in the type of nations that he was consistently sent to, the punishment most often came in the form of a bullet in the back of the head. He was at least a little lucky though, some operatives in places like the Middle East didn't even get the luxury of a quick bullet in the head, and they were more than likely beheaded.

Inihara was currently working deep cover inside North Korea, feeding his employers with information on their nuclear development. While of Japanese decent, Inihara's father was from South Korea, which gave him the facial characteristics that let him into the communist nation without too much hassle. It had taken a great amount of time before he reached the position he was in now, six and a half years to be exact.

At 32 years of age, he had started out low in the North Korean command structure, joining the military as a non-commissioned officer. He had endured many hard trials to climb the ranks, and he had to prove his intelligence in matters of nuclear development through several high-profile examinations. Through a long screening process, and whole hell of a lot of luck, Inihara was shipped out of his military unit and assigned to a nuke development team.

Of course, it would have been impossible to infiltrate such a high-ranking position with a Japanese name, so Inihara had falsified documents concocted with his new 'cover' identity. To the Korean government and everyone he had had contact with for the past 6 years, he was known as Suh Kwan. Unlike most Koreans he only had one given name to go with his family name, something Inihara attributed to the person who forged the documents being lazy. Though fitting with Korean culture, practically no one ever called him by his name. When he was still in the ranks it was always 'soldier' or 'private'. Now that he had climbed to a position of authority it was 'sir' and 'officer'.

Inihara had found it somewhat difficult to move from a free society like the one he had enjoyed in Japan to a communist system that North Korean employed. He had quickly discovered that there were more than a few hints of wisdom in the line about a fish not taking notice of the water it exists in until it is removed. He missed the life he had enjoyed for so long. Each day spent in this hellish country was torture, plain and simple.

The people of the country, at least the citizens, they tried their best but even they knew that the life they had been forced to live for the past 60 years was one of suppression and strict control. There were no creature comforts in this country, something that every society needs.

As if to prove this point, Inihara found himself walking down the street towards his apartment building. Even the street seemed to be devoid of significant life. His gaze fell over a nearby park, where no children played as the day slowly ended. Those who were out on this cold fall day moved with slow purpose, no time for pleasantries or exchanged words between them.

These people did not live, they survived. Each day was a struggle, one endless hurdle after another. There was no release from this existence, not until their body broke underneath the stress and they went onto another life.

Turning down an alley, Inihara entered a building and began ascending the staircase towards his apartment. Upon reaching the fourth floor he went down the hallway and entered his apartment. Peeling off the thick uncomfortable jacket he wore, he flicked the lights on, only to discover the power was out. He at first thought it was a planned power outage, until he noticed that the central heating had also failed to start.

Cursing bitterly Inihara entered his bedroom, deciding that there was nothing to do but get some rest, and hope that tomorrow the heat and electricity would be working.

Things hadn't always been this bad in North Korea. Not until President Kim Jong-Il had begun racing to get the nation's nuclear development finished. Money from every area of the nation's budget had been cut and stripped clean to pay for the labor and technology needed to accomplish his goal. Of course the citizens weren't informed of this, and the only answer received from the government was instruction to go about daily life as best they could.

'There won't be any good news for the people anytime soon either,' Inihara thought to himself. 'After killing seven of the scientists, the others finally cracked. Those missiles will be out of the country in no time.'

Unfortunately for America and Japan, he wouldn't be able to get that bit of information out for another week, when his contact would be returning from a trip north.

'That is, if he wasn't uncovered when he handed over the tape I gave him,' Inihara darkly thought. 'He may be under cover as a military inspector, but the Interior Ministry does not let any position held sway them from shadowing someone they think may be suspicious.'

Inihara quickly dispelled those thoughts. He was already suitably depressed, no need to drag himself down any further.

The looming premonition stayed in the back of his head though, despite his best efforts. He was miles away from what he had called home once. All that remained of the Japan in his mind was a distant memory, something that was there, but just couldn't be reached.

Shaking his head, Inihara slipped into his bed and closed his eyes.

------------------------------

_1323 Hours, 16 September 2010_

_Washington DC, Maryland_

_"_When you two get to Japan make sure you give that letter to Kimura right away," Parker instructed. He shook both Ranma and Ryoga's hands and nodded once in farewell before turning away and getting into the waiting car that drove him off the tarmac.

"I suppose we should have expected something like this to happen," Ranma said softly. "After the first 21 years of our lives are filled with absolute chaos, enjoying almost a decade of relative peace and quiet was almost like asking for the shit to hit the fan."

Ryoga grunted his agreement as he started to climb the stairs to the waiting plane.

"It's not like anything that happens now could be as bad as the crap we've had to face before," he remarked. Ranma shot him a dry look.

"I've never known you to be much of an optimist Ryoga."

"Well one of us has to be," Ryoga shot back as they were shown to their seats. The plane was actually a government jet, and had been sent down from Kimura to retrieve them. It was empty save for a few Japanese executives and people from the embassy that had needed a ride.

"What do you think Kimura and McCullen are going to do?" Ranma asked once they were left alone.

"Its not like they can walk into the UN, hold up a piece of paper that says North Korea has ICBM's, and shake their finger at them," Ryoga responded sarcastically. He stopped and looked apologetically at Ranma. "Sorry, force of habit. What I meant was, there isn't much they can do right now. The only evidence we have would be scoffed at and ignored by most of the United Nations. The second we bring it up North Korea will just do a tighter lockdown and that might also mean ending the bits of information we've been getting from informants."

"Not to mention endangering the lives of agents inside the border," Ranma added. "But if we can't do anything publicly then Korea's just going to get away with building nukes and threatening the world with them."

Ryoga grunted his agreement. "This is the type of bullshit we've got to put up with now that were a part of the world of politics."

"Makes you almost wish we had turned down Kimura's offer," Ranma said.

An uneasy silence fell between the two as the plane taxied down the runway and headed for Japan.

-------------------------

_2345 Hours 16 September 2010_

_Moscow, Russia_

Lt. Colonel Gregory Gogol marched stiffly down the hallway leading to the Director of Foreign Intelligence Services office. The Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) was the closest department that resembled the KGB of the Cold War. The agency was tasked with promoting Russian Federation policy in the security sphere, to promoting the country's economic development and scientific and technical progress, and providing military-technical support for Russia's security. That was the more public aspects of the agency's role, there were of course several other functions it performed that was not meant for the ears of the public. The SVR was also charged with handling the gathering of intelligence on other nations, as well as inserting field operatives onto foreign soil.

Colonel Gogol was well aware of all this as he knocked on the door twice, waiting to be acknowledged. General Vyacheslav Trubnikov looked up from his paper work and smiled at Gogol, motioning him inside.

"It's nice to see I am not the only man who likes to put in a full day," General Trubnikov said in way of greeting. "I'm pleased you were able to come on such short notice."

Gogol smiled at the elderly soldier. General Trubnikov was one of the few intelligence officers he actually liked. He accredited that to the fact that Trubnikov had been a soldier in the Russian Army from the day he had turned 17. He hadn't even taken off his uniform when he was commissioned to lead the SVR in 1992, something that earned him a few enemies inside his organization, but also the glowing respect from men like Gogol.

"I was just finishing up some documents when you called sir. I must thank you for rescuing me from them."

General Trubnikov smiled, he personally liked Lt. Colonel Gogol, and mostly because the young man reminded him so much of himself when he was younger.

"There were some interesting new files given to my aide an hour ago, and I felt it would be best to deal with them before returning home," Trubnikov informed him. "It would seem the Americans and Japanese have gotten word about the missing nuclear technicians."

Gogol kept his face impassive, but inside he felt his heart skip a beat as an icy lump formed in his stomach. He had to make a mental note to continue breathing as Trubnikov gazed at him with a small smile slowly spreading along his face.

"Naturally such an event has caused some of the other directors to claim there was a security leak, and an investigation has been launched which will bring about the person who leaked this bit of information."

Trubnikov paused for a moment, eyeing Gogol carefully.

"You were in South Korea a few weeks ago were you not?"

Fighting the urge to swallow, Gogol answered, "Yes sir."

"As I seem to recall you have some friends in the Japanese PSIA do you not? One of whom that was attending the President's little affair correct?" Trubnikov questioned.

Gogol nodded once, waiting for security officers to storm in. They might not put a bullet in his head right away, that would cause a mess in Trubnikov's office. He'd have to wait until they took him to one of the lower levels, one of the interrogation rooms. It might not have been the Cold War anymore, but there was about the same amount of tolerance for intelligence agents now, as there was back then.

"If one were to make a small leap of faith it could become clear that such a relationship would prove to be detrimental to your position here," General Trubnikov explained.

His arms were beginning to shake, but Gogol forced himself to sit still. If he were going to be arrested for treason then he would at least face it like a soldier.

"My relationship with the Japanese PSIA is no more grievous than the friendship I share with the Director of the CIA," Gogol responded coolly. "I recall that when this relationship was discovered by the directors they were quite pleased of the potential they could see there."

General Trubnikov turned a glare on Gogol and let him sit in silence for a minute.

"The trouble with investigations like these, there are far too many dead ends and as it stands now we have neither the time nor the resources to waste going on some wild goose chase. This is why I ordered the investigation closed just a moment ago."

Gogol stared at Trubnikov in disbelief, his mouth gaping slightly. He was further shaken when the old soldier suddenly erupted into laughter.

"Do not fret Gregory," he laughed. "I would have ordered the information sent out to our allies myself if I hadn't known it would cause half the government to crap their pants."

Gogol felt the tension flow from his body at once. A small smile graced his features as he looked up at Trubnikov.

"I realized what the implications could be when I mentioned what I did to Hibiki, general. The government has been too tight-lipped about the developments in the past few months. It may cause embarrassment but we can't keep such information to ourselves, especially when it concerns the rest of the world," Gogol said.

Trubnikov smiled for a moment before turning serious.

"You are talking to the converted my dear friend. The government dogs that lurk in this building would have me strung up by my entrails for saying so but, there are some things that politics just fuck up. I have lived through too many wars to see my country collapse just because the government did not wish to appear with egg on its face," General Trubnikov paused. "There were some protests over my closing of the investigation, but since I will be retiring shortly there isn't much anyone can do until my replacement arrives."

"Retiring?" Gogol asked, surprised. As if for the first time he got a good look at Trubnikov. The man was well into his 70's. The skin on his face was sunken and gray. Truthfully the only youthful feature left were his eyes, which still held the mischievous glint that had been with him since birth.

"Yes, I've grown too old for this life. Or so my wife tells me," he laughed. "The government will be holding a short ceremony next week to honor my service, where I will be presented with some meaningless medals. After that, Andrei Kozyrev will be taking over."

Gogol fought an internal moan at the mention of that name. Kozyrev was a politician to the core, and a personal friend of the Defense Minister. Gogol doubted that the man had any previous experience in the intelligence business.

General Trubnikov read the look on Gogol's face. "I understand that such an announcement will cause quite a stir amongst the government. As I'm sure it will be a source of great pain for the lower-ranking intelligence members. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done; I will be instructing all my trusted staff members on what they will do in my absence."

Gogol nodded once, a headache already forming at the thought of working under Kozyrev.

"Which brings us to the other reason why I called you in here," Trubnikov announced. "You have been a great asset to me over the years Gregory, and while I know Andrei Kozyrev will not be able to use you as effectively as he would if the man possessed a shred of intelligence, I want you to do what you can to assist the man and continue the work you have been doing. Personal differences must be set aside for the greater good of our homeland."

"I understand, general," Gogol said.

Trubnikov smiled, "With that out of the way I will now ask you if you would possible consider having a drink with me?"

"It would be an honor sir."

The smile broadened and Trubnikov got up and headed for a cabinet located along the wall. He extracted a bottle of vodka and two glasses. No words passed as the man poured healthy portions into each glass and handed Gogol one.

"So what medals will they be awarding you?" Gogol asked once the general had sat back down.

A snort came from Trubnikov. "I believe one is for outstanding service to the country. The other is some garbage about being an accredited member of the government party for so many years," his voice switched from condescending to serious. "Let me tell you Gregory, the only medals that are worth anything are the medals that adorn your chest right now. A man who can go out to war, knowing death is waiting but a few feet in front of him, and keep his head clear deserves the medals he will earn. There is no greater feeling. The thrill of battle, fighting in the dirt as Hell seems to have erupted from the depths of Earth itself and overtaken the battlefield. We who have been there, and seen what true fighting is, we are lucky, for we carry with us the memories of those that perished. No man that has walked away will ever forget the images, the screams, the terror."

Trubnikov's words struck Gogol. His hand hanging limply onto the glass as images flashed across his mind. Battles won, and lost. Men and women killed in unyielding fury, the terror that graces a soldiers' face as they realize that there will be no medic to patch them up.

Gogol looked up, seeing the same glazed expression in Trubnikov's eyes that he imagined had just graced his own. There were some things that took precedence over a person's life.

'Yes,' Gogol thought to himself. 'Kozyrev may be a fool, but if it is within my power to help him keep this country from collapsing, then I shall do it.'

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A/N: Once again, terribly sorry about the long wait. I've already started work on the next chapter so it should be out much sooner than this one.


	5. Close Combat Chapter 4

A/N: …Wow, zero reviews for the last chapter. Something tells me either you guys are pissed over the long wait, or that everybody forgot I changed the rating to 'R'. If it's the former, then I once again would like to apologize, and to make up for it I'll post the next two chapters within two weeks.

Close Combat

Chapter 4

From Worse to Worse

_0549 Hours, 20 September 2010_

_Pyongyang, North Korea_

The sun had yet to rise in North Korea, but that hadn't done much to stall Inihara's day from starting. He was riding the bus to work today, as his car had died on him a few days ago, and he had yet to find a mechanic that could fix it for a reasonable price. The tram was packed despite the early hour, which made for an uncomfortable ride. Inihara had given up his seat to an elderly man that was on his way to the market, and shortly after that, the bus filled up to maximum capacity.

Inihara was afforded at least some space from the other people forced to stand. His uniform was easily identifiable underneath his thick jacket. The regular civilians had never been fond of being near soldiers, especially officers. The separation they gave him was only one more constant reminder of his situation. The mere inches the others stood away represented the gaps in relation he had with them.

There was nothing like the feeling that you're completely alone to make a person depressed. Inihara had been dealing with these emotions for six years, and even now, he found them impossible to ignore. Despite the assurances before he came over, Inihara had never attempted to find a female companion. He had urges of course, he was in the end only a male, but he had long ago made the decision to not get involved. A relationship could jeopardize his cover, let alone make him question what he was doing there. Inihara may not have had much love for Japan or the United States anymore, but he understood his mission, and he would carry it through, for as long as it would take.

The bus ride would continue for another 30 minutes, taking him well clear of the city. The military base was located in the outskirts of Pyongyang, and the site where the Russian scientists were being held was not much further.

Inihara let his hand run briefly through his short black hair, once again casting his attention back to his home. He wondered briefly if his family had found the time to forgive him yet. When it was decided that he would be inserted into North Korea as an intelligence operative, his family had been given a cover story. All they had been told was that he had defected from Japan and was now a soldier in the North Korean army.

That had been 6 years ago; he doubted that their beliefs had changed since then. His mother and father had always been hardheaded, something that had made Inihara respect them. There would not be any forgiveness in their hearts for him.

That knowledge was enough to bring him to tears when he was in his apartment at night. Their faces had already faded from his memory, much in the same way Japan itself had. All that was left was the feeling of his mother's warmth when she would hold him when he was younger, and his father's voice, both rough and warm, as he would talk for hours on end about stories of his grandfather. In the harsh, cold reality that Inihara faced each day, those things were what made it possible for him to continue.

'Well isn't this a great way to start the day,' Inihara thought bitterly. He smiled to himself as the base came into view. The bus rolled to a stop and he dismounted, fixing his posture. He now stood erect, his eyes became hooded and his expression took on a look of impassiveness. For all appearances, he looked like a lifeless entity.

"Good morning Major," one of the guards greeted. Inihara nodded stiffly at him as he passed, momentarily pausing to flash his ID card at the gate. After the inboard computer analyzed the code, the gate swung open and he allowed entrance. From there it was a short walk to the base commander's office. He was lucky; the General wasn't in yet, meaning he wouldn't have to answer any of the man's inane inquiries.

He called the motor pool and asked if a jeep could be scrounged up to drive him to the off-base site where the Russians scientists were being held. That bit of knowledge wasn't known by anyone at this base though, but Inihara wasn't foolish enough to think that the soldiers here didn't speculate on the sudden activity.

The drive was uneventful, but Inihara quickly took notice that the weather was slowly turning for the worse. He was sure that if he had read the paper this morning he would have been informed of the likelihood of snow looming on the horizon.

Getting into the gray, slightly drab looking building was somewhat more time-consuming in comparison with gaining entry into the military base. A retinal scan was required, a technology imported only a few years ago from Russia, as well as fingerprint analysis. His face was matched with three separate photos on file. It took 20 minutes before he was finally given the go-ahead. Upon entering his office, Inihara was greeted with a slew of paperwork that had apparently been dumped onto his desk. He didn't need to speculate over what the papers contained. The Russian nuke specialists were now ready to start talking and it would be his job to sort and file almost everything they would be giving them.

Inihara wondered idly if his contact would be coming by today. He should have returned from his trip, and Inihara had information waiting for him, but sometimes the man would wait longer than necessary, not wanting anyone to notice a pattern in their brief, seemingly innocent meetings. The CIA would want to know about the scientists finally cracking, as well as whatever he could get from them. A part of him was glad they had finally succumbed and gave up resistance. Witnessing the brutal execution of seven of the poor men had been more than Inihara could take. To keep his cover intact he had been forced to watch as the soldiers maimed and then killed each unyielding Russian.

Shaking his head, Inihara dispelled those thoughts as quickly as they had come. The faces of those that had been murdered would stay with him forever; each horribly mutilated body would be etched in his memory until the day his last breath was drawn.

"Am I interrupting?" a voice asked from the open door to his office.

Startled, Inihara snapped his head upwards. Standing in his doorframe was Ha-Neul Sung.

"You look surprised," Sung remarked as he entered the office, shutting the door behind him. Inihara quickly pushed his earlier musings aside as he regarded the nuclear weapons inspector. Sung had lived his entire life in North Korea, and had been a member of the nuclear research team for almost two decades. With that said, it had almost been too easy for Inihara to turn him over and get him under the CIA's thumb. It was often a concern of his that Sung was in fact playing him and was simply using him as a means to track down other intelligence agents. It wouldn't be the first time this had occurred in the intelligence business, but without any way of knowing, there is little an intelligence office can do.

"I had not expected you to arrive so quickly," Kwan/Inihara confessed. He didn't bother getting up from his seat; doing so would acknowledge that Sung had come at an important time. Inihara was careful not to tip his hand, for one false move could cost him his life, as well as the lives of his contacts.

"I was ordered to return once it became clear that the Russian scientists would not be willing to hand over their knowledge," Sung explained casually as he took a seat. "I had expected for there to be a bit of a mess when I returned. You can imagine how pleased I was to discover that the matter had not only been resolved, it had been resolved quickly and efficiently."

"We had to kill many of them," Kwan/Inihara said cautiously. Sung shrugged his shoulders and smiled softly.

"What can we expect? They had information the government needed and they weren't willing to talk. I'm surprised it took so long for them to crack, I would have figured that when the first body was dragged past them they would have all snapped."

Inihara found the light tone Ha-Neul was using troubling. The man seemed to enjoy making light of death and brutality at every turn. Death may have been commonplace in this government system, but that didn't mean it should be ignored. Apathy begets apathy.

"When are you next scheduled to leave?" Kwan/Inihara asked. This was one of their standard questions from a carefully woven dialogue. It would have been quite naïve to believe that Inihara's office wouldn't be bugged. In this case, the two had developed a standard line of question and answers that would let them communicate freely without worrying about any prying ears overhearing something they shouldn't.

"I'm supposed to be heading south to attend a committee meeting in Seoul in a few days, the typical inane chatter and regressions will be uttered and I shall promptly be bored out of my skull," Sung replied.

"I am sorry to hear that," Kwan/Inihara said. 'I have a message that needs to go out.'

Sung waved his hand, dismissing the apology. "It is of no concern, I'm sure I'll be able to entertain myself somehow." 'What type of message?'

"You always do," Kwan/Inihara remarked dryly. 'Just a simple message, given orally.'

"I won't take up anymore of your time," Sung said, getting to his feet. 'Have it to me by the end of the day.'

"It was a pleasure." 'Can do."

Sung smiled and nodded once before departing. Inihara tapped a pen thoughtfully against his chin as he began to work on a message that Sung would deliver to the South Koreans.

--------------------------------

_1734 Hours, 20 September 2010_

_Tokyo, Japan_

"So the North Koreans are holding all the cards then?" Kimura asked as he massaged the bridge of his nose, already anticipating the migraine that seemed determined to stick around.

"Parker told us that he'll put the Director of Operations to work right away. Apparently they may be able to formulate some kind of plan that would at least stall the North Koreans from completing their nuke development," Ranma said. He glanced at Ryoga, who sat next to him, to see if he had anything to add but the man simply stared straight ahead, his mind seemingly elsewhere.

"All the stalling in the world won't do us one bit of good if we can't get conclusive evidence of these missiles, and the Russian scientists," Kimura interjected bitterly.

"Well wouldn't our contact inside North Korea be able to get us some evidence?" Ranma intoned. Kimura shook his head slowly.

"No, it was risky enough for him to get that tape out. Official documents or photographs leave too many trails. It'd only be a matter of time before the Koreans caught on."

Ranma frowned to himself. He never had liked this part of working for the government. The job involved far too much sitting and planning. Ranma very much preferred taking action, a feeling he knew was also shared by Ryoga.

It was a moment before Ranma realized Kimura was no longer sitting in front of them. He had walked over to the large window overlooking the gardens. When he spoke, his voice was soft.

"Thank you for getting back here as quickly as you did. For now, we shall have to wait for something to pop up. The American satellites will be probing the North Korean hillsides for these nuke sites, maybe we'll get lucky."

'Lucky? Since when did the well-being of the world rest on the shoulders of someone being lucky,' Ranma thought to himself as he got to his feet. He offered no parting comment as he left, followed shortly by Ryoga.

Kimura felt the breath he had been holding rush from him as he slumped against the glass slightly. His expression solemn he went back to his desk and looked at the letter Ranma and Ryoga had given him. Parker had obviously wanted neither Ranma nor Ryoga to read it. He found himself beginning to read it once again, his mind hoping that he had simply misread it the first time.

_Dear Prime Minister Kimura,_

_As you no doubt know by now, North Korea has within its possession at least 15 missing Russian nuclear scientists. The higher-ups over in Moscow want to keep this fact silent, for it was just explained to me that those scientists were a part of a new highly covert experiment the Russian government had just started. From what we've been able to gather from reports and intercepted phone calls, the Russians have developed a prototype fuel used by ICBM nuclear tipped missiles that leave them completely undetectable from modern radar. From what our own nuclear inspection team has been able to come up with, it would seem that this new chemical is capable of burning freely, without leaving behind any traces of heat or burnt fuels. _

_While this may not have been very troubling if it were simply just the Russians developing it, now that many of the top scientists on the team have disappeared only to reappear in North Korea, it is safe to assume that it will not just be the Russians for very long. What's even more troubling, if one were to consider this supposed meeting between several 'high-risk' nations that took place a few weeks ago under the supervision of Jong-Il, then there is much more for us to worry about that just one other nation._

_I've spoken with the President about this, and he is in agreement with a short-term plan I have developed. I realize that this is not going to be an easy operation, and it will be even harder for us to execute it, but it is something that needs to be done. _

_When speaking with President McCullen, I proposed that we insert a small team into North Korea, tasked with uncovering the locations of the ICBM's before they can be shipped about. There are many small problems that need hammering out, but right now the core of the mission is solid._

_What I am about to ask will not be easy for you to do, but I urge you, I would not request this if I believed that there was another way. The team we insert into North Korea must be able to go undetected long enough and survive long enough, to find these missiles, and relay the information back to us. The President and I both agreed that taking a Special Forces team would be far too noticeable and too large for the mission._

_Ranma and Ryoga are the only two men that have the necessary skills and competence to actually pull off this mission. _

_I will not waste my time telling you how important this is, and how sorry I am that I have burdened you with this responsibility. _

_As Director of Central Intelligence, I'll have to see them one last time before they deploy. The President informed me that he would greatly appreciate that this mission be executed as soon as possible._

_Sincerely,_

_Phillip S. Parker_

Kimura let the paper fall from his hands to land on the desk. His stomach clenched painfully and he forced himself to stop from shaking.

There was no doubt in Kimura's mind that Ranma and Ryoga would agree to go. He was also sure that they would perform to the best of their abilities, and maybe even find the ICBM's. Nevertheless, there was also no doubt that there would be no return trip for them. This mission would be their deaths.

Swallowing hard, Kimura tapped his intercom.

"Send, Saotome and Hibiki, back in here please, I have something I must discuss with them."

---------------------------

A/N: Okay, slightly shorter chapter than normal. With luck, the next chapter will be up by the middle of next week and another shortly thereafter. Please review and let me know what you think about this story so far.


	6. Close Combat Chapter 5

Close Combat

Chapter 5

Leaving Home…Again

_2132 Hours, 26 September 2010_

_Tokyo, Japan_

A somber mood had descended upon the Saotome Dojo ever since Ranma and Ryoga had returned from Washington. Akane and Akari had not been pleased when their respective husbands informed them that they would be leaving the country again. That displeasure grew immensely when they learned their destination was North Korea. Tonight was their last night at home before they would be shipped off to Taiwan, where they would be outfitted and debriefed at a U.S. Naval base before finally being inserted in western China. From there they would sneak across the border and infiltrate North Korea.

Ranma and Ryoga were both 30 years old, and if one were to look at the many times each of them had survived an otherwise potentially life-ending situation, you would be inclined to believe they were immortal. Unfortunately, their wives did not share this opinion. They had been there over the years, patching them up after each battle sometimes participating alongside their spouses. There was only so many times someone could slip through deaths' grasp before they were finally caught.

"C'mon Akane," Ranma protested as he followed his wife out of the kitchen and down the hallway leading to the staircase. "You're blowing this way out of proportion. This won't be the first time Ryoga and I have done something like this."

"And every time you have I've sat at home worrying myself sick, waiting for the moment Kimura would pull up to the house with Ishii and come deliver the bad news," Akane retorted angrily as she climbed the stairs. Ranma followed close behind.

"There's no need for you to worry this time, were not going to be doing any fighting at all. Kimura even specifically told us, no fighting. He knows what would happen if we did, he's as concerned about this whole thing as much as you two are."

Akane whirled around so quickly Ranma didn't realize what she was doing until her fist was planted firmly in his face, sending him crashing back down the stairs.

"If he's so concerned then why is he sending you two in the first place?" Akane fairly screeched. Her voice was beginning to go hoarse, a sure-fire sign that this was not the first time they'd had this conversation.

"Damn," Ranma cursed as he righted himself. Akane had always had a good right hook. "Look tomboy, this isn't some meaningless task were getting sent out on. If the North Koreans go through with whatever fucked up plan their coming up with, then the whole world is pretty much screwed. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather prefer not having a nuke come crashing down on our heads."

The fire died in Akane's eyes for a moment before suddenly returning.

"If it's so damn important than why just send you two? What about all the fancy stupid soldiers America has. They train specifically for this kind of bullshit, why aren't they going?"

Ranma bit down on his inner cheek to keep from smirking. Akane may not be the young schoolgirl she used to be, but that spitfire attitude of hers was as strong as ever. Moving swiftly he jumped up the stairs to land softly in front of Akane. Using her surprise, he brought his hand up and cupper her cheek softly.

"If they send a team of Special Forces in, the North Koreans are going to hear about it and they'll have the entire army scouring the country for them. It'll be hard enough as it is with just Ryoga and I, even with everything we know about not being seen."

Against her will, Akane melted against Ranma's palm. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him. When she felt Ranma return the embrace and rest his head gently upon hers, the tears sprang forth unbidden. Sobbing loudly, Akane barely noticed Ranma slide his arm down to hook underneath her thighs and lift her into his arms. With a flash of movement, they were inside their bedroom.

"Don't cry Akane," Ranma urged, his voice only hinting at the depth of emotions swimming across his eyes. "Damnit, if there was some way I could stay I would, you know that. It hurts me to leave you and the girls as much as I know it hurts them. Ryoga's the same way. None of us has had easy lives; we've fought tooth and nail to earn what we have today. It's been so long since we've been able to lie back and just enjoy our lives, I'm beginning to think that maybe I'll never be able to experience it again."

Akane felt her tears subside and she lifted her head from against Ranma's chest and looked him in the face. Ranma couldn't stop the smile that spread when he looked down at her.

"Ryoga and I were given a gift early on in our lives. We have the strength to protect countless number of people, and with that power, we've been given a burden as well. Simply possessing that strength is not enough, we have to use it. I can't explain it any better than that."

Ranma's eyes widened slightly when Akane lifted herself up and kissed Ranma deeply. The surprise lasted only a moment before he returned the kiss and slowly fell back, letting Akane lay on top of him.

"You don't have to explain it dummy," Akane said with a short laugh. "I'm a martial artist too."

"So you're feeling better about this?" Ranma asked pensively.

"No," Akane said, her features falling shortly into a scowl. "But you've got a duty to fulfill."

"Even if it costs me my life," Ranma added. Akane's face nearly crumbled one again but she held her emotions in check for a moment. Her head came down to rest lightly on his shoulder.

"Just promise me you'll do your best to come home."

Ranma felt his heart lurch in his chest. He had everything he ever wanted out of life. The woman he loved two children, and friends that he cared deeply for.

However, for all his strengths, Ranma Saotome had always been held back from truly enjoying life because of his only weakness. His sense of duty, and responsibility made him take unbelievable risks with his life. It was only a matter of time before he didn't come home from one of his missions. That was an understanding he shared with Akane but neither cared to dwell on it for long.

"If it means going through the entire Korean Army to get back here, you better believe I'll take them on," Ranma whispered with feeling as he gripped Akane tighter to his chest. His words were not senseless bravado. Both Ranma and Ryoga had shown amazing capacity to fight against impossible odds when victory meant returning home, and failure meant death.

Despite his words, Ranma had the feeling that this would be the very last time he held Akane in his arms. The feeling had been lingering about ever since Kimura had called Ryoga and himself into his office.

'If this is going to be the last time I can be with her, than I'm going to enjoy every last moment.'

-----------------------------

Ryoga felt a weight settle beside him and opened his eyes to see his son gazing down at his face from where he lay sprawled on the couch situated in living room. He had been attempting to catch a little shuteye for the past few hours to no avail. Though he would have been much more content to spend this time with Akari, she had locked herself in their bedroom, and was refusing to open it to him.

He had heard Ranma and Akane fighting earlier, something Akari and he had been at for most of the day as well. If it was possible, she had been more upset over the whole situation than Akane. Granted she didn't respond as physically as Akane tended to, Ryoga had seen the look in her eyes when him and Ranma had sat their wives down and explained what they were about to do.

Ryo, whose full name was Ryoga Jr, had been sent off with Kagome and Natalie earlier to Ranma's parents place while their parents fought. They were all 12 years old, but they certainly were becoming quite perceptive of when their folks had a fight looming.

"Are you going somewhere?" Ryo asked, his eyes hinting at the true depth of meaning behind the question. Ryoga sighed as he scooped his son up and sat him down beside him.

"Yes, your Uncle Ranma and I are going to be going away for awhile."

"Why are you leaving?"

"There's something that we have to take care of in another country," Ryoga explained. It was the sugar-coated version to be sure, but no self-respecting parent was going to admit to their child of 10 years that their father was about to sneak into a foreign country and most likely not return home alive.

"Is that why Mom's so upset?" Ryo questioned.

"That's part of it," Ryoga answered uneasily. "Your mother and I are sort of on different sides over a certain issue and it looks like were not going to be able to resolve it before I leave."

Those different sides being of course, Akari thinking Ryoga had done enough for the country, and Ryoga believing he had a duty to fulfill.

"How long will you be gone?" Ryo asked, his voice betraying his desire to appear strong.

Ryoga felt a pang of guilt. For the first 4 years of his son's life he had been absent, letting the boy grow up thinking his father had died before his birth. Now, after almost a decade of being a father, he was getting ready to leave it all behind. The boy had only told his mother this before, and Akari had informed Ryoga later, that he never let himself believe that he really had a father. He did this because he knew, eventually Ryoga would leave, and there was a good chance he would never come back. It had broken Ryoga's heart when Akari had told him, and now it was breaking all over again.

"I'm not sure, but it is going to be for a long time. Six months at least."

Ryoga saw the flinch that crossed Ryo's face. He gave into emotion and quickly enveloped his son in a hug.

"I want you to know, no matter what happens, that I'll always love you," he said softly.

Ryoga Hibiki had grown up for the first half of his life never having a family. Loneliness and solitude followed him wherever he went. If there was one feeling he knew inside out, it was the feeling of being alone in the world. Not seeing his parents for years at a time had changed him. If he had not run into Ranma during High School and followed him to China then his life could very well still be one filled with depression.

His son had already known what it was like to grow up without a father, and to put him through it all again, made Ryoga crumble inside.

He had no idea how long he held Ryo in his arms, but it felt as if an eternity had passed when he felt another presence in the room. Glancing up, he saw Akari standing in the doorway, staring at the two of them with tears in her eyes.

"C'mon Ryo," Ryoga said softly as he slowly released his son. "Its about time you headed up for bed, I'll see you tomorrow morning so we can say our goodbyes then."

Ryo nodded, wiping his eyes, and turned to leave, pausing at the door to hug Akari before leaving.

Once Ryo had left, Ryoga felt the full weight of Akari's gaze. He sighed deeply as he got to his feet.

"I know what you're going to say Akari, but please…" he paused as his throat constricted painfully. "Please, I have to do this."

"I know," Akari whispered. Her voice was a little hoarse, something Ryoga attributed to the shouting matches that had erupted over the past two days.

"I've never wanted to leave you and Ryo alone, but this is something I have to do."

He heard Akari sigh before her hand reached out and grasped his own.

"I won't be able to understand why you decide to do the things you do Ryoga," Akari started. "And I may even get upset over your decisions, but no matter what you do I will always support you. I love you, nothing is ever going to change that."

Ryoga's hand tightened over Akari's and he brought it up to his chest and laid it flat.

"I know you do, and I feel the same way about you."

Akari leaned into Ryoga and rested her chest where her hand had previously lain.

"This is going to be the last night we'll be able to be together," Akari began, "So let's enjoy what we have while we still have it."

Ryoga inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of her hair before raising her head to look up at his and planting a kiss on his mouth.

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A/N: Ack! What's this? Another short chapter? Inconceivable!

I know, I know, I'm so terribly sorry everyone. Nearing the completion of this chapter I had a little disaster occur. My laptop died. Not just a simple battery depletion, but an all-out death. It flat-lined.

So, having lost my beloved laptop of many years, I also lost the file for this chapter and the next, forcing me to rewrite the both of them. If the conversation seems somewhat stinted between the characters know its because writing it twice made me somewhat lazy. Same with the length.

Ugh….anyways, thank you all so much for your reviews last chapter. Out of all the Ranma ½ fanfic authors I easily have the best reviewers. You guys are awesome. I'm taking a slight tiny little break for the rest of today then tomorrow I'll finish up chapter 6 and get it posted, so look for it then.


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